Broken Record

Chapter 19

The doorbell rang.

“I got it!” Savannah yelled,
dashing toward it in her high heels.

Liz snickered from the living room,
and Brady stood from his seat where he’d been answering emails. He instantly
went into big brother mode. And she just needed to push Lucas out the door
before Brady realized what was happening.

She wrenched it open and stilled at
the sight of him. “Hey,” she said breathlessly.

She was so used to seeing Lucas in
basketball shorts and a T-shirt. That was his go-to outfit. But tonight, he was
dress in a charcoal suit with a baby blue tie. It was a sharp contrast and made
butterflies erupt in her stomach.

“Hey, yourself,” he said with a
slow grin as he took in the little black dress she’d pulled out of Liz’s
closet.

“We should…we should go,” she said
hastily.

He arched an eyebrow. “In a rush?”

She tilted her head softly
sideways, and he peered inside long enough to see Brady striding toward them.

“I can handle Brady,” Lucas said.

“Well, it’s your funeral.”

“Lucas,” Brady said, appearing at
her side like an overbearing father figure. He held his hand out, and Lucas
shook it amicably.

“Good to see you, Brady. How’s it
going?”

“Good. Why don’t you come inside so
we can have a quick chat?”

Savannah could hear Liz laughing in
the other room.

“Or how about no?” Savannah said.
“You’ve known Lucas his whole life.”

“That is why I have concerns,”
Brady said.

Lucas laughed. “It’s different with
Savi.”

“It better be.”

“I’ll have her back before she
turns into a pumpkin,” he promised with a grin.

“He’s not my dad. Let’s not make
any promises,” she said with a snort, nudging Brady out of the way. She smiled
up at him. “We’ll be fine.”

Brady returned the look. “It’s good
to see you smile. Have fun.”

She realized he was right. It was good to smile. Really smile. And not
just something she was putting on for other people…or even herself.

She kissed her brother’s cheek. “I
love you. See you later.”

Brady watched them walk out to his
awaiting Range Rover before he closed the door behind them.

“He’s so protective,” she grumbled.

“Hey, be glad for that. It means he
cares.”

“Even though he’s an ass to you?”

“He wasn’t an ass. He was
just…Brady.” Lucas shrugged and opened the door to his SUV.

“Shiny new digs,” she said,
admiring the car.

“Signing bonuses do come in handy.”

“Is that what this is?” She and
Lucas had never really talked about the draft or anything involved. At least
not since high school when becoming a professional basketball player had been a
pipe dream.

“I know they say not to buy a brand
new car and to learn how to invest your money and all that,” he said with a
lazy shrug. “But I couldn’t help myself.”

“And that,” she said, poking his
chest, “is how you get into financial troubles later down the line.”

He snorted. “I think I’ll be okay,
Savi.”

She realized that she hadn’t moved.
That she was just standing there in front of him with the door to his car open.
The oppressive July heat beat down on them with so much humidity that she could
practically drink the water. And yet, she took a step closer, tilted her head
up to look at him, and bit her lip.

“Are you sure about this?” Savannah
asked.

He didn’t bullshit her. He didn’t
try to undercut the question she was asking. He didn’t make a joke out of it.
Instead, he just brought his hand up to her jaw, threaded his fingers up into
her hair, and said, “I’m sure.”

She swallowed, captivated by that
look. “It’s just…we’ve known each other forever.”

“It’s because we’ve known each
other our entire lives that I want to make it clear that this is different.”

“True. But…I don’t know if it’s
silly.”

“I told you that we were going to
do this the right way. And we’re doing it the right away,” Lucas insisted,
trailing his thumb down the column of his throat. She swallowed, her heart
pulsing in response. “Which means I’m taking my girlfriend out on our first
date.”

She reined in the desire the
rocketed through her when he touched her. “I suppose…I can’t argue with that.”

“That’s right,” he said. A grin
touched his features. He must have realized his effect on her. How her whole
body leaned into him and trembled with the need of him. He bent down and
captured her lips roughly against him own. She felt it in that kiss—his own
lack of control. The wild thing between them that ignited upon contact. It was
what made them run so hot every time they were together. It sparked fierce
arguments as often as hot fucking.

She released a slow breath when he
pulled back. His own breathing was hitched.

“We should…go,” he said slowly. “Or
else we won’t make the theater.”

Her eyes fluttered open. “The
theater?”

He grinned. “Now I have your
attention.”

“You had it a second ago.”

Reluctantly, he took a step back,
put some distance between them. “As much as you make me want to ruin all my
plans, I would like to take you out.”

She nodded. She saw how much this
meant to him. He’d wanted these real dates all the way back in high school. Then
they’d spent the next four years with this insufferable back and forth. She
wouldn’t let their aching, pent-up, sex drive screw up their plans.

“All right.” She turned from him
and got in the car.

He snapped the door shut behind her
and jogged around to the other side of the car. Once they were driving down the
familiar D.C. roads with his favorite tunes playing in the car, Savannah was able
to relax. One touch, one kiss awakened something between them. It was primal.
And as much as she wanted to give into it, she knew that they weren’t ready.
Not if this was to last.

Lucas pulled up to the front of the
Kennedy Center in downtown D.C. It was an enormous 70s-era building on the
Potomac, throwing distance from the Lincoln Memorial. Savannah had been here a
dozen times with her family over the years and never seemed to get over the
grandeur. While some people thought that the building was out dated with its
garish red and gold interior with bright pipe-like columns and glittering
circular chandeliers, Savannah still loved it. The place was attached to too
many happy memories for her to see anything else.

She strode inside with Lucas at her
side, her hand in the crook of his elbow. And for those moments, she felt like
Cinderella going to the ball. As if this was too surreal to be true. That she
and Lucas could actually have a normal evening out, despite all the hateful
words they’d thrown at each other over the years.

After Lucas got them both a drink,
Savannah veered toward the boxes without thinking. That was where her family
had sat in the past. She had always felt like the king and queen looking out
over their subjects. A bit removed. More to be seen than to actually watch the
show. She’d found it almost sad that where
you sat mattered more than what you
saw.

But Lucas snagged her elbow before
she could take another step. “This way.”

She raised an eyebrow. “But the
boxes are over here.”

“And I know you hate them,” he told
her smoothly.

“I don’t…hate them.”

He arched an eyebrow. “The view
isn’t as good. You complain the entire
time that you can only see three-quarters of the stage. That isn’t something a guy
can forget. I mean…even when he is subjected to a four-hour opera.”

“So…where?”

He directed her through the main
double doors and down the aisle toward the orchestra. His eyes scanned their
tickets before coming up on a row about twenty rows from the stage, dead
center.

Savannah’s eyes glittered with
excitement. These were her favorite seats. She hadn’t been to the theater with
Lucas since she was eighteen, and somehow, he still knew that this was what she
preferred. She’d been vocal about it in the past, but it seemed exactly the kind
of thing that a guy who hated opera would forget.

“Thank you,” she breathed, sinking
into her seat. “For remembering.”

He took the seat next to her and
nodded to the stage. “It could have been you up there.”

She snorted. “No way. I wasn’t any
good. I just loved it.”

“Sometimes that makes all the
difference.”

“It cannot make up for my lack of
vocal training or my half-assed acting skills. I was good enough for small town
theater, maybe for the Triangle, but never Broadway. Hobbies can just be
hobbies, you know. We don’t all have to become professional basketball
players.”

“Let’s hope not. I don’t need any
more competition,” he said as he lazily slung an arm across the back of her
chair.

Savannah relaxed against him and
sipped her champagne. Soon the rest of the theater filed inside, and the lights
dimmed, announcing the beginning of the show. The room quieted, the curtain was
drawn, and suddenly, she was completely engrossed in the musical version of
Aladdin.

***

By the time intermission hit, her
cheeks hurt from smiling so much. She had forgotten how much she adored
musicals, having completely devoted her life to the newspaper the last four
years. She’d hardly had time to do anything else. And it felt freeing to
indulge in something she had loved so much once.

She followed Lucas out of the
theater during intermission and onto the outdoor terrace that overlooked the
river. It was grand and beautiful, lit up by the theater behind her and the
city in front of her. The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument were beacons
in the night, standing tall against the flat D.C. skyline.

Carts had been wheeled out for
patrons to purchase beverages or snacks. Savannah could remember begging for
candy from her mother, and her father indulging her, despite her mother saying
no. So many memories. Growing up a politician’s daughter felt like being split
in two. Half her heart always in beautiful Chapel Hill and half her heart here
in this political swamp land.

“I’m going to get us another drink.
I’ll be right back,” Lucas said, their lips brushing against each other before
he maneuvered into line.

She strolled toward the edge of the
terrace and leaned against the railing. She had been worried about tonight, but
Lucas had been beyond charming. It was amazing what they could both accomplish
when they weren’t screaming at each other.

She turned around and searched him
out in the crowd. Her eyes falling across his broad shoulders in that
well-fitting suit. The short cut hair that she was still getting used to after
it had been long and shaggy for years. The sharp jawline and hollowed cheeks.
The way his pants tailored down to his narrow hips. But it was something else.
A confidence that he had, a swagger. Like he knew that everything was going to
work out in his world. It was one she was familiar with and found incredibly
attractive. Her blood pumped faster as her eyes crawled down his form. And his
eyes skittered across to hers as if drawn like a magnet. A slow knowing smile
crossed his lips. As if he knew exactly
what she had been thinking about.

She flushed and broke the gaze.
Lucas Atwood made her want to forgo the second half and head straight home.

She was disrupted from her thoughts
by an older gentleman with silver hair and a kind smile sidling up to her at
the edge of the terrace.

“I know a Maxwell when I see one,”
he said.

Her heart stopped altogether. “Is
that…so?” she asked cautiously.

“You probably don’t remember me,”
the man said, extending a hand. “Senator Billy Chambliss. I’ve known your
father for many years. A great man.”

Billy Chambliss. Of course. Her
father played golf with him. He’d come to their house in Chapel Hill a time or
two. Now that she looked at him with fresh eyes, she realized she did recognize
him.

“Senator Chambliss, of course,” she
said, shaking his hand. “It’s so nice to see you.”

And then Lucas materialized out of
thin air at her shoulder. “Here you go.”

She took the champagne from him
gratefully and gestured to the man before her. “Lucas, this is Senator
Chambliss from Massachusetts. He’s friends with my father. Senator this is my
boyfriend, Lucas Atwood.”

The two men shook hands. Lucas
smiled. “Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“Atwood, you say?” Senator
Chambliss said with a knowing look. “You wouldn’t be Matthew Atwood’s boy,
would you?”

Lucas nodded. “That’d be me.”

“He’s a brilliant strategist, your
father. He and the Maxwells go way back.”

“Well, it’s a real treat running
into you young folks. I don’t want to take up more of your time.” Senator
Chambliss smiled at them both. “Tell your fathers I said hello. And that
brother of yours,” he said to Savannah.

“I will definitely let my father
and Brady know.”

The Senator winked at them and then
hurried back to his awaiting wife, daughter, and three proud grandchildren.

“Ready to go back inside?” Lucas
asked, reaching for a hand.

For a second, she just stared up at
him. Not in surprise exactly but in relief. Being a Maxwell had never been easy
for her. Not like Brady who was the perfect son or Clay who reveled in the
notoriety. She’d wanted to be anonymous in a world where she never could be.
There was no chance of it in her existence. Not with her father in politics.
Definitely not now with Brady in Congress.

And that interaction with Senator
Chambliss, however inconsequential it had been, would have normally sent her
anxiety ratcheting up. But it was clear that dealing with someone recognizing
her as Savannah Maxwell was a hell of a lot easier with Lucas.

She had always feared—however subconsciously
or unconsciously—that her name always meant something to other people. Just the
fact that she was a Maxwell meant
that she had this underlying fear about people seeing her like that…using her
for it.

It was half the reason that she’d
refused any help from her father to get her job at the Washington Post. Or why
she frequently didn’t tell people her last name for as long as possible. Or why
she cringed thinking of a Maxwell by-line in the newspaper.

She knew that it was her problem
and no one else’s. Born from years and years of deeply ingrained political
daughter’s routine. The way she was treated differently than her brothers. That
made her want to hide the part of her that was known and just be her.

But for the first time maybe ever, she didn’t feel like she had to
hide.

Lucas hadn’t even blinked an eye
about her being noticed. Or about the fact that the Senator also knew his
father. He didn’t care that his father worked for her father. Actually, nothing
at all about that brief interaction had seemed to bother Lucas Atwood.

And her heart grew when she
realized that she would never have to feel that way again.

Chapter 20

Savannah released Lucas’s hand so
that he could fit the key into the lock of his apartment door. Her head was
heavy, but her body was as light as a feather. She’d had another glass of
champagne at the theater, and she had promptly tipped over from tipsy straight
into giggly. Lucas found it endearing and had insisted he get her home. She’d
suggested otherwise. He hadn’t resisted.

She leaned back against the wall outside
of his apartment as he turned the lock and thrust the door open.

“Home sweet home,” he said.

“I think I had one to many,” she
said, not moving from where she was standing, with her heel pressed into the
wall and her hands in her dark hair.

He stepped forward. His body
towering over her in a way that did nothing but make heat pool in her core. “I
can take care of you.”

She met his gaze. It hadn’t been
what she had thought he would say. “How exactly do you plan to take care of
me?” A dirty smirk crossed her features.

His hands moved forward to cage her
in, and he leaned down close to her face. “If you look at me like that, I’m a
goner, Savi.”

Then he fit his mouth to hers. Soft
and exploring. Gentle, yet monumental. He had touched and kissed her any number
of times this evening. But this was different. This was coaxing and
questioning. Like holding a bird in your hand and hoping it will fly. There was
something in this kiss she had never had from him before—hope.

“We should go inside,” she said,
when he finally pulled back.

“Yes.” His breathing was uneven. A
muscle flickered in his neck. Barely contained control.

He took her hand again and drew her
away from the wall. She followed him into his apartment, where he promptly
closed and locked the door. She had been here once before, when she’d come to
tell him about her ended engagement. But she hadn’t been inside. She’d only
made it as far as the front door before going to the gym, where he basically
lived, anyway.

She surveyed the apartment. It was new, fresh,
and modern with the space purposely sparse. As if someone had taken quite a lot
of time to decorate his place so that it had that not quite lived in look.

“Huh,” she said, discarding her heels
in the doorway and continuing inside.

“I know,” he muttered. “Alice got
her hands on it.”

Savannah snorted. “Oh God, I guess
we should be thankful this is the least of what your little sister did to your
apartment. She could have gone full blown emo on it.”

“She wanted to. And I told her she
couldn’t try out her new interior design skills on it if she went all black and
sad.” Lucas shrugged. “She’s actually really good for someone who is only
sixteen.”

“She’s always been into that
though,” Savannah said as she took a seat on a barstool. “Don’t you remember when
she redecorated the Hilton Head bedroom we shared without speaking to my
parents first?”

Lucas slipped out of his suit
jacket and slung it across the back of a chair. “I remember the fall out for
sure.”

Lucas headed into the kitchen and
poured her a glass of water. He slid it across the bar to her before taking out
a bottle of scotch.

“I get water, and you get scotch?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You had one
too many.”

She huffed but drank the water.
Because he was right. She didn’t need to be drunk to be around Lucas. That had
been the Savannah that had a boyfriend and knew she shouldn’t be around Lucas. Not the one in his apartment, currently
dating him.

“You’re thinking deeply about
something,” he said, sipping on his scotch.

“Thanks for not being weird about
Senator Chambliss approaching me.”

He furrowed his brow. “Why would I
be weird about that?”

“Oh…you know.”

“Do I?” he asked.

“People always recognize me…or at
least the name.”

“I’ve known you for years. That
always happened to the Maxwells. It’s not weird, Savi. It’s just how it is.”

“Sometimes it feels like it is.”

“The last four years people have
recognized me everywhere that I go because of basketball. Is that weird?”

“No,” she said automatically.

“And somehow, it’s different.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “I
guess not. But…it’s something that you chose.”

“I chose basketball, not the lack
of privacy. Neither of us chose that.”

“I’m just not used to people not
caring when I get recognized. I get self-conscious about it. Makes me feel…other,”
she shrugged helplessly. “Sorry.”

Something smoldered in Lucas’s
eyes. “Don’t do that.”

“What?” she asked.

“Apologize for who you are.”

Lucas left his scotch on the
counter as he came around to where she was seated. He tilted her chin up so
that their eyes could meet. Her heart skipped a beat at the fire in that gaze.
The unrelenting focus. She swallowed and heat traveled down her body again.

His hands slipped up into her hair.
“You’re perfect just the way you are. And damn anyone who says otherwise.”

It was those words that made her
lean into his strong hands. That made her close her eyes and nuzzle against
him. A sliver of herself broke open for him. Things had been so fucking hard
with Lucas for so fucking long. But here, like this, had always made sense.
They had lived the crazy political life together practically since birth. And
there was no part of her that he didn’t already know.

He tilted her chin up. “Look at me,
Savi.”

Her eyes fluttered open and she
stared up into those rich orbs, still amazed they had made it to this moment.
Where what they were doing wasn’t illicit. Wasn’t going to hurt the other in
some monumental way.

“Just be here with me tonight.”

She cracked a smile. “I’m here.
With you.”

“You’re mine,” he commanded, bending down until their lips nearly touched.

“Yes,” she breathed. She arched up
toward him, trying to grasp that kiss before he allowed it.

But he held still. All calm
control. Even as his fingers fisted in her hair and his breaths came out sharp
and crisp. “Tell me that you’re mine.”

Her breath hitched. “I’m yours,
Lucas Atwood. I’m yours.”

He sighed and then dropped his
mouth onto hers. His tongue dipped into her mouth, tasting her sweetness. She
groaned against him as he unrelentingly explored her mouth.

It hadn’t been since the summer
before college that they had been together like this. With no barriers holding
them back. And nothing between them but hot desire. And then, it had been new
and scary. Also, quick and hurried and furious. This was something else
altogether new.

His hands slid out of her hair and
down her shoulders, taking care to touch every inch of her body with his large
hands. He splayed them out against her ribs, dipping his thumbs under the
curves of her breasts. She gasped into his mouth at the feel of him, but he
just continued downward. To her narrow waist and over her hips.

Then he spread her legs in her
short black dress, pressing them further apart until he was seated between
them. Another low moaned escaped her at the feel of him now pushed firm into
her stomach. She could tell exactly what her words had done to him. How letting
him claim her made him hard as a rock in his expensive suit pants. Her fingers
groped for the button of those pants, aching to release him from the enclosure.
But he was ahead of her, and finally let his hands fall to her ass, where he
lifted her effortlessly off of the bar stool.

She wrapped her legs tightly around
his waist, grinding into his body. A grunt left his lips now as he hoisted her
into the air. Their kiss broke and for a second her eyes were trapped by his.
By the lustful glaze reflecting back at her as she slid her wanton body against
his dick, begging for release.

“Fuck,” he growled. His fingers dug
into her ass, trying to still her.

“Yes,” she purred.

“I was going to go slow,” he told
her as he walked her backward to his bedroom. “I had plans to relearn every
inch of your body. Make you come at least twice before I buried my cock inside
of you.” She whimpered. He kicked the door open. “Now, I just fucking need you,
Savi.”

“I need you,” she said back. “It’s
been…so long.”

“Too long.”

He tossed her backward onto his bed,
and she barely had time to register that he hadn’t let anyone touch this room.
That all of this still felt like him.
Like the Lucas she had always known with the comfort of his old trappings and
memorabilia. This was lived in and loved. So similar to the room she had spent
long days in when she was younger. But more grown up now and decidedly more
masculine.

His fingers were deftly working the
buttons of his shirt. He got fed up half way through and wrenched the thing
over his head, tossing it to the ground without care. She forgot the bedroom
entirely and zeroed in on that body. She’d seen every inch of those rippling
abdominals and bulging biceps and the Adonis lines that led down to the other
part of him that was currently bulging. But she hadn’t really looked. Not like she was now,
practically salivating.

“Dear God,” she muttered. “How much
have you been working out?”

He flicked the button on his
trousers and dragged the zipper to the base. “All the fucking time. It’s my job
now.”

She licked her lips. “It’s
appreciated.”

He laughed, a short breathy thing.
Then let his pants fall to the floor next to his shirt. He was just wearing a
pair of black boxer briefs that did nothing to contain him.

Savannah slid forward off the bed
and hooked her fingers into the top of the briefs. He exhaled at her movement,
at her surety. Then she released his dick and saw the full length of it bob out
of its restraint. Her mouth watered. They’d never had the time for this before.
She was so wet that she hardly felt like they had time for much of anything but
fitting his perfect cock inside of her and making them both come for days. But
she knew that she wanted to know his body as he wanted to know hers. Not just
in words and looks and every day movements conveyed over years. But like this
and in earnest.

Pre-cum dotted the head of his cock
as she wrapped her hand around the base of his dick. She leaned forward and
licked it off of the tip. His entire body shuddered in surrender at that. She
thought for an instant he was going to scoop her up and bury himself inside of
her, right then and there. But then she took him in her mouth. His head dropped
back, and a rumble filled his chest.

She rolled her tongue around the
tip of him. Then she slid forward and forward and forward. Her jaw opening
wide, her reflexes softening so she could take him further. Still she didn’t
fit him in entirely, and she was about to withdraw, when she felt his fingers
push into her hair.

A moan left her lips, and his cock
lengthened even further. He didn’t exactly hold her in place, but she didn’t
move either. As if he wanted to have her there, exactly there, for a moment
longer. To feel her wrapped all the way around him.

Then he pulled his cock out of her
mouth. She protested, but he didn’t respond. Just pushed her back onto the bed
and slid his hands under her dress. She stilled as he reached the edges of her
black thong. He dragged it back down her legs, leaving her bare from the waist
down.

“Lucas,” she groaned as his fingers
inched back up her naked flesh. So primed and ready for him. “I wanted to make
you come.”

“Together,” he assured her as he
found the hem of her dress and pulled that over her head. She hadn’t bothered
with a bra. “And then again.”

She grinned. “Awfully sure of
yourself.”

He arched an eyebrow as he walked
to the side table and withdrew a condom. “Should I not be?”

“Let me.” She held her hand out.

He passed her the condom without a
word. She tore open the material in haste and fit the small band of latex to
the head of him before rolling it on him inch by inch. By the end of it, she
could see he wanted to hurry her and be done with it. But he let her finish before
crawling onto the bed after her.

“I find everything you do to be
incredibly sexy,” he told her as he hovered over her on the bed.

Her mind was on his fingers inching
their way up her right inner thigh. “I find that
incredibly sexy.”

“This?” he asked, stroking a finger
through her silken folds and coating a finger with her wetness.

She squirmed. “Uh huh.”

He trailed that finger up to her
exposed clit, already peeking out and waiting for him. He stroked her in a slow
even circle until she was writhing underneath him.

“Fuck, Lucas.” She reached for his
hips, trying to drag his dick closer. To get that release she so desperately
craved.

“We’ll see if you’re ready for me,”
he teased. Then he slipped one finger inside of her. She tilted her head back
at the feel of one long thick finger probing her, spreading her wider for him.
A second finger followed, finding her pussy just as inviting as the first.

“Please,” she murmured.
“I…can’t…wait….any longer.”

He chuckled softly against her
lips, stroking her leisurely in and out, rubbing his thumb against her clit as
she bucked against him. “You don’t want to come first?”

“You said…together.”

“Always together,” he agreed.

He withdrew his fingers, only to
fit the tip of his cock against her waiting opening. She tilted her hips up,
hoping to draw him. But he took his time, something he had never done before.
Once the tip went in, a growl left his body and then he thrust with abandon. He
pushed all the way inside until their hips smacked against each other, and she
cried out in a small bit of pain but so much more pleasure.

“Oh fuck, Savi,” he said. Then he
braced himself with one hand against the bed and grasped her hip with the other
before he pulled out and began to drive into her. Thrusting in and in and in as
if this was all he ever wanted to do.

She reached up and drew him down to
her. Their lips and tongues and teeth met with a ferocity that was unmatched. A
passion that had never fully dimmed and only resurfaced with a desperate aching
need. A moment that was unlike any of the others that had come before it. A
fresh coupling. A new beginning.

“So close,” she groaned into his
mouth as her hips met his time and time again.

“Come for me, love,” he breathed.

And then he bottomed out in her
pussy, and her body gave one good shudder before exploding into a million
stars. She cried out, her core tightening in rolling waves. Then Lucas too hit
his climax and came with a tremor and then perfect stillness. As if he’d turned
to stone except for the cum he was releasing into her.

Once the spell was broken, he
dropped forward over her, panting breathlessly. Sweat beaded between them. And
he kissed her swollen lips.

“You’re perfect.”

She smiled lazily. “You’re not so
bad yourself.”

He snorted and nipped at her neck.
Slowly he slid off of her and went to rid himself of the condom. When he
returned, he flopped down onto the bed next to her and pulled her close.

“Let’s do that again,” he said with
total seriousness.

She laughed anyway. “You know I
normally don’t put out on the first date.”

He pinched her side. “Liar.”

“Hey!”

“You’re so easy to tease.” She
huffed, not at all upset, and let him draw her into his chest. He ran his
fingers back through her hair, and she nearly fell asleep before he spoke
again. “How do you feel about black tie events?”

“Um…good?” she croaked.

“Come with me to one?”

“What for?”

“The team is throwing a fundraiser before
the season starts. We’re all supposed to be there.” He kissed her forehead. “You
could be my plus one.”

She rose up onto her elbow and
looked down into his eyes. “That sounds serious.”

“I want us to be serious,” he said
without blinking. “I want everything.”

A pleased look crossed her face. “Then
I’ll go. Tell me I have time to go shopping.”

He laughed and rolled her back
over, pinning her between his strong arms. “You have time to go shopping.” His
eyes roamed to her breasts. “Now let me reacquaint myself with the rest of your
body. I don’t want you to feel like I’m slacking.”

“Heaven forbid,” she murmured as his lips closed over her nipple and she forgot all sense.

♡ Kyla

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